


Everybody Wants You

by bigfeetbiggersocks



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, Scene Rewrite, i dont remember the episode number but the episode name is the hills have eyes lmao, its the scene where jughead and archie are talking in the woods at the lodge's cabin thing, ras send me a cease and desist rn i fucking dare you, the canon core four ships are mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 20:47:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29338560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigfeetbiggersocks/pseuds/bigfeetbiggersocks
Summary: "You know, maybe Veronica was onto something in the hot tub.""What are you talking about?"Archie's gaze drifts downwards again, but this time it doesn't settle on the water canister or the ground; It's hovering inches above Jughead's lips."She said that in order to make things even for me kissing Betty you had to kiss her, right?""Uh huh.""And now we know that she's kissed Betty."Oh. Jughead knows where he's going with this.
Relationships: Archie Andrews/Jughead Jones
Comments: 4
Kudos: 67





	Everybody Wants You

"Did you know Betty and Veronica kissed?" 

"What?" 

Jughead isn't really sure why he said it, why it feels so important for Archie to know, especially because of how little it seems to matter in light of more recent events, but he had said it nonetheless. 

"Apparently Bee and Vee kissed the first week of school during the cheerleaders' tryouts."

Archie blinks, pursuing his lips. 

"Really?" 

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"I couldn't tell you. Betty tried explaining it last night but the rationale still eludes me." 

Archie shifts in his seat, and his brows begin to furrow. He passes the canister of water from his right hand to his left, his gaze focused directly on the cap of it.

He seems unsteady in his seat, not sure of how to hold himself, and his teeth are digging into his lower lip. 

"Jug. About me kissing Betty." He sighs, and raises his eyes to meet Jughead's again. "There's really no good excuse. I'm sorry." 

"That's okay." 

"It's not, though." Archie draws in a long breath, his fingers combing through his hair, before leaning forward and really, honestly looking at Jughead. His eyes are so wide right now, and there's a layer of glossiness over top of them. He looks so raw, so vulnerable, and the sight of it both fascinates and terrifies Jughead. 

"You're my best friend. And Betty's my best friend. My two best friends are dating each other, and I hurt both of them by kissing one." 

He twists his fingers around the canister's cap, pausing. 

"I didn't wanna destroy three relationships with one kiss, but I did. That's not okay."

There's a part of Jughead that wants desperately to reach forward and place a hand on Archie's, to reassure him that it's okay, that he wasn't mad, but too much has happened between them now. They've been walking on fragile ground for a long time, and the last thing Jughead wants to do is make it worse. So, he opts instead for giving Archie a small smile, hoping that they know each other well enough for Archie to understand what it really means. 

"Admittedly this is all way more complicated than any of us could have planned."

Archie raises an eyebrow at him, prompting him to continue.

"Well we're all best friends, right, like you said? And it should be amazing that we're all so close, but sometimes it terrifies me. It's like the four of us are in a powder keg; All it would take is one match and we'd all blow up." 

"Are Betty and I that match?" 

A small laugh escapes Jughead's lips. "I used to think so, but now I'm not so sure." 

Archie places the canister on the ground beside him and moves forward, his left hand settling on top of Jughead's thigh. The weight of it is warm and solid, and the feeling is so familiar it almost makes Jughead sick. In another life this would still be normal for them, the casual contact and comforting touches, but this is not another life, and they shouldn't get to do this. 

"If I'm being honest I haven't figured out what that match is." 

Archie quirks his head to the side, trying to show that he's listening, but Jughead's already buried too deep in his own mind to notice. 

"I thought it would be you and Betty for a long time. She's your best friend, and the girl next door, and it felt like the natural progression would always be for the two of you to get together, but apparently it's not." 

He pinches the bridge of his nose between his thumb and pointer finger and sighs. 

"And maybe at some point I thought it would be you and Veronica. But that's not it either. And now that Betty and Veronica kissed, and Veronica and I kissed, I don't have any idea what it could be, and that's scary. One day something's going to show up and blow us all the smitherins, and I'm not going to be prepared for it. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?" 

Archie smiles and squeezes Jughead's thigh. 

"Not at all." 

Jughead rolls his eyes but smiles back at him.

"But you don't have to worry so much about this, you know. One kiss isn't going to ruin everything. And yeah, I shouldn't have done it, but it's gonna take a lot more than that to destroy what we all have."

Jughead places his own hand on top of Archie's, the other one finding refuge in the pocket of his jacket. 

He feels Archie's pinky wrap around his own. He lets the gesture sink in for a couple of seconds, just to make sure it's real and intentional, before curling his finger against Archie's. 

"You know, maybe Veronica was onto something in the hot tub." 

"What are you talking about?" 

Archie's gaze drifts downwards again, but this time it doesn't settle on the water canister or the ground; It's hovering inches above Jughead's lips.

"She said that in order to make things even for me kissing Betty you had to kiss her, right?"

"Uh huh."

"And now we know that she's kissed Betty."

Oh. Jughead knows where he's going with this.

"So the only ones who haven't kissed yet are you and me."

The silence between them is suddenly heavy, and Jughead feels like he can't do much of anything besides stare at Archie, waiting for either his mouth to catch up with his brain or for Archie to make the first move. 

"Do you want to kiss me?" 

"I'm just saying that maybe it'll help us all out if we do." 

He leans even closer, his eyes still glued to Jughead's lips. 

"We don't have to though if you don't want to, Jug. It's just a suggestion." 

"No, no, I think we should." He's sputtering slightly, his usual eloquence gone. "After all, a Jarchie kiss here in the present might be what saves future Varchie and Bughead from imploding." 

"I never know what you're talking about, man." Archie laughs and surges forward, his lips connecting with Jughead's. He's smiling into it, and Jughead can feel the leftover vibrations from his laugh against his lips. It's weird, but good weird, and it's over much too soon when Archie pulls away.

He leans back in his seat and picks up the canister, taking a swig of it before putting the cap back on and tossing it to Jughead.

Jughead's still a little dazed, but he manages to catch the canister without much trouble, willing his mind to focus on anything other than the kiss. 

"Great toss, Archie." 

They're laughing again, and it feels lighter than before, almost like they're freshmen again, hanging out without the fear of eviction, or murder, or anything else. 

Maybe Veronica really was onto something.

**Author's Note:**

> so I finally caved and wrote a riverdale fic lmaooo. its my first time writing the characters and I havent seen most of s2 since it came out so Im sorry if its not the most horribly accurate to anyone but I had fun writing it and I hope yall had fun reading it :) hopefully Ill write more for them at some point !!


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